


Fake It 'Till You Make It

by Jojosugay



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Fainting, Fake Marriage, Hospitalization, M/M, Panic Attacks, Party, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:33:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22726216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jojosugay/pseuds/Jojosugay
Summary: Richie takes Eddie to his managers valentine's day party pretending to be married.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Kudos: 90
Collections: IT ❀ Valentine's Day Fic Exchange





	Fake It 'Till You Make It

“What…?”

“I said you should bring your husband! The team’s been dying to meet him!”

“O-oh yeah, of course! We’ll be there. See ya then!” 

Richie quickly hung up the phone and immediately began scrolling through the contacts on his phone. He was tired of fans and employees asking about his love life and trying to hook him up with someone ‘totally his type’, which just ended up being the only other gay guy they knew. So he did what Richie Trashmouth Tozier does best: _Lie._ It just spilled out of his mouth ‘oh yeah I’ve been married for awhile, we got married after college, yadda yadda’. Of course his manager is having a Valentine’s party and Richie just _has_ to bring his husband.

Not Bill, he’s out of the country working on a movie. 

Can’t be Stan, him and Patty are celebrating their anniversary in France. 

Definitely can’t ask Ben, in the middle of a big build. 

Not Mike either he’s at some nerdy fucking book convention...

...Eddie?   
  
Either that or Bev in a really shitty Party City beard.

Yeah, Eddie. Maybe he hasn’t really been doing anything since he moved out here for that new job. Couldn’t hurt to at least ask.

He clicked on Eddie’s contact in his phone and called him.

_He’s gonna think I’m such a fucking idiot._

After a couple of rings he picked up

“Richie? What do you want? Is Everything okay? You never call.” Eddie’s voice sounded concerned

“Everything’s fine, what I need to ask just can’t be in writing.”

“Oh god I knew this day was coming, who’d you piss off? I don’t have enough to bail you out-”

“What? No. It’s nothing illegal. I just- look promise not to judge me for what I’m about to say.”

Eddie laughed “that’s impossible, how’d you fuck up?”

Richie cleared his throat a little and started fidgeting with the hem of his shirt.

“Okay, so my manager is having a Valentine’s day party and I _may_ have told him that I have a husband that he really wants to meet.”

“You’re such a fucking idiot.” _Called it._ “I mean who the hell does that? Thats such a stupid fucking thing to lie about.”

“Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. You gonna help me or not?”

Eddie paused for a second, it sounded like he was looking for something. Probably his planner, he keeps his days planned to the second.

“When?” he finally responded

“Valentine’s day, 8pm at the Valore ballroom.”

“Alright I’ll do it, but it’ll cost you.”

Richie sighed a little pulling out his checkbook, “how much?”

“300”

“Thousand?”

“What!? No! Just 300, you’re paying me to keep up your lie not keep my mouth shut.”

“Oh thank god,” he sighed in relief, “I’ll pick you up from your place at 7:30 so we can talk about the plan on the way over. Wear something nice but not like too nice, we’re impressing my manager not roleplaying high end hookers.”

“Wha- I-,” Eddie made a long pained groan, “whatever just be on time. Bye.”

Eddie hung up and Richie flopped back onto his couch rubbing his face and sighing loudly. This was a great Idea. Fantastic, even. He was going to do what he did best, bullshit and laugh his way through all this and come out the other end having spent a wonderful night with his best friend...then why was his heart beating so fast?

********

Richie leaned close to the mirror above the bathroom sink rubbing his jaw, making sure that he got all the hair. It was hard shaving with his glasses on so he just had to wing it. He’d already washed his face, done his hair, and picked out his outfit for the party. Why was he trying so hard though…? I mean his manager sure as fuck didn’t expect him to put in this much effort and it wasn’t a date. Then why did he feel like he had to? Why was he almost...excited for tonight?

He made sure that he showed up a little bit early to Eddie’s apartment, letting him know that he was waiting in the parking lot. After a couple of minutes Eddie came out of the building, eyes glued to his phone probably doing some work thing. He was wearing a black sportcoat over a powder blue button up and black dress pants to match. Richie’s heart started racing, Eddie looked so...handsome. It was probably nothing that Eddie wasn’t used to, hell he most likely wore that outfit everyday for work but damn it made Richie weak.

The door clicked open making Richie snap out of his trance and stare out the windshield.

“Heyyyy Spaghetti,” he laughed nervously, “how ya doin?”

“I’d be doing a lot better if my lovely childhood friend stopped putting his foot in his mouth.”

“Fair enough.” Richie started the car and pulled out of the parking lot driving around the neighborhood. He turned off the radio and gently cleared his throat. “So, uh about our fake marriage…”

“Just tell me what I need to tell people if they ask.”

“We’ve been together since highschool, I proposed at college graduation and we got married in the fall in a beautiful forest wedding a year later.”

“A fucking forest? That’s disgusting do you know how much mold and fungus are in the air in the fucking forest? God we probably got some kind of fucking bug” 

“Well next time you can pick the location,” Richie laughed pulling into the ballroom parking lot and turning to look at Eddie. “Thank you again for helping me out, it really means a lot.”

“Yeah, of course Richie. That’s what friends do for each other.” he smiled. Something about Eddie calling them friends made his heart sink into his stomach...

“Well a _real_ friend wouldn’t take my money for a favor” Richie said forcing a big frown.

“Oh wipe that frown off your face, you can afford it,” he unbuckled his seat belt and opened the door. “Now c’mon let's head inside before we’re late.”

“Yes sir!” Richie gave him a happy salute and quickly got out of the car running over to Eddie and taking his hand to help him out of the car. As soon as their hands touched Richie’s heart started pounding out of his chest. 

_God his hands are so soft are warm, he probably moisturizes them like crazy mine probably feel like shit in comparison._

“Your hands feel like shit, do you even use that lotion I gave you?” Eddie said closing the door with his free hand and nonchalantly intertwining their fingers.

Richie stared at their hands locked together, he did that so effortlessly without any thought or hesitation. His face started getting warm, _holy shit I am holding hands with Eddie fucking kaspbrak why they fuck does this feel so weird? But like a good weird? What the fuck is wrong with me oh my go-_

“Hello, earth to Richie” Eddie waved his other hand in front of Richie’s face.

“What?” he snapped his head back up to look at him.

“I said do you have the ring for me?”

“OH, yeah” he fiddled around with his pockets before pulling out the fake gold wedding band and handing it to Eddie who immediately slipped it on.

“Alright” Eddie sighed “Let’s get this over with.”

He didn’t even wait for Richie to say something before dragging him to the front door, where they were met by a bouncer who checked them in and led them to the correct room. The ballroom itself was covered top to bottom in beautiful pink, white, and red decorations, half of which were shaped like hearts. The tables and dance floor were surrounded by couples. Most of which were sipping on different alcoholic drinks and laughing while dancing to the live band that was playing.

Not even a minute in the door, Richie’s manager waved to come over to his table. Richie gently pulled him over to the table, letting go of Eddie’s hand when his manager attacked him with a hug.

“Richie! I’m so glad you and your husband could make it!” he patted Richie’s back before pulling away and putting his arm around the woman standing at the table, “This is my wife, Debbie.”

Debbie nervously laughed reaching out and shaking both of their hands, “It’s so nice to finally meet you, two. Rob’s told me so much about both of you.”

“It’s nice to finally meet the famous, Debbie. You’re much prettier in person,” Richie smiled before gently rubbing Eddie’s back, “and this is my husband, Eddie.”

Eddie smiled gently leaning against Richie’s side while the four of them made small talk. As the night went on Richie’s heart raced faster and faster, with every touch, smile, and joke he felt more and more anxious. It felt like a good kind of anxious though, like when you’re watching a reality TV show and they build up suspense about who’s voted off. The band started playing a slow song and the lead singer called for all the couples to come onto the dance floor. Debbie didn’t even hesitate dragging Rob with her as fast as she could in her heels.

“We uh don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” Richie said nervously shaking his arm.

“You don’t know how to dance do you,” Eddie said with a chuckle, downing the rest of his drink.

“Can’t even tap my foot to the beat.” 

“It’ll be fine, just follow my lead.” Eddie grabbed Richie’s hand gently leading them through the crowd to an open spot on the dance floor. He turned to face Richie, gently putting his hand on Richie’s waist and using his free hand to guide Richie’s to his shoulder. Then he gently intertwined their fingers together holding them out to the side. “Okay, I go back you go forward, okay?”

Richie nodded quickly, his face was bright red as he stared into Eddie’s beautiful deep brown eyes. He was so beautiful when he was having fun…Richie wanted him to be this beautiful all the time, he wanted to be the _reason_ he was so beautiful.

Wait.

  
  
  


Fuck.

  
  
  


That explains a lot.

  
  


After the song was over, Eddie pulled away and walked back over to the table leaving Richie feeling sad and confused. He followed a couple of seconds later, but something was wrong. Eddie was leaning over the table and his arm was shaking like crazy. Richie quickly wrapped his arm around Eddie’s waist gently rubbing his side.

“Woah, Eds are you okay? You’re shaking like a condom wrapper on a radiator.”

Eddie looked up at him, his eyes were full of fear “I-I don’t…” All of a sudden his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fell on Richie who quickly caught him.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, Eddie? Eddie are you okay? Eddie, answer me!” he gently shook Eddie before gently laying him on the ground resting his head on Richie’s lap and yelling for help.

He checked for a pulse while everyone gave them room and someone called an ambulance. As they waited Richie gently played with Eddie’s hair and whispered assurances holding back tears. He knew this was a bad idea, it's all his fault. Eddie’s hurt and its all because hes a fucking dumbass.

********

The ambulance had come within 5 minutes and drove them both to the hospital. Eddie was rushed into the emergency room immediately, leaving Richie to wait in the waiting room. After what felt like forever the doctor came out calling Richie’s name. He shot up from his chair and practically ran over to him.

“Is he okay, what happened? Is something wrong?” he said, shaking both of his arms nervously.

“He’s totally fine, he just had an intense panic attack and just fainted. We wanna keep him here for a little longer just to make sure everything is okay, but you’re welcome to go see him now.”

“Oh thank god,” Richie sighed in relief, putting a hand over his heart to try and stop it from racing.

The doctor led him to Eddie’s room, where he was laying in the bed in one of those thin gowns staring at the TV on the opposite wall.

Richie thanked the doctor and slowly sat down in the bedside chair trying not to make too much noise.

“Hey,” he said, softly fidgeting with the edge of the blanket, “The doctor told me you had a really bad panic attack, I’m sorry I dragged you into this. The pressure of lying probably made you panic a-”

“That’s not why.” Eddie mumbled not moving his head.

“What?”

“I said,” he turned to face Richie, tears brimming his eyes, “That’s not why I had a panic attack.”

“Woah, Eddie…” Richie pulled the chair closer and grabbed Eddie’s hand “bro, what happened? You can tell me anything…”

“I can’t!” he tore his hand away wiping his face as the tears started pouring out of his eyes, “I can’t tell you what’s wrong but the fact I can’t is fucking killing me.”

“Eddie…” Richie carefully laid down next to him on the bed yanking him into a tight hug, Eddie buried his face in Richie’s chest gripping his shirt, crying so hard his whole body was shaking. Richie rested his chin on the top of Eddie’s head shushing him and rubbing his back trying to get him to calm down.

After a couple of minutes Eddie pulled away looking up at Richie, his face was all red and swollen from the tears.

“Pr-omise you won’t make any stupid jokes. And that you’ll just let me talk…” Richie nodded miming zipping his lips shut and throwing away the key, looking into Eddie’s eyes with concern.

“I agreed to help you out tonight, because I-I thought that I could handle it. I thought it’d be fun just the two of us hanging out like when we were kids. Bu-but I couldn't...Richie I’ve been in love with you since we were kids and I thought I could put aside my feelings to just hang out with you but I couldn’t and I’m so fucking sorry. We were dancing and I was so happy but then it all came and hit me and I was trying to force it to stop which made me panic more and. I ruined the party and your valentine’s day event and I probably ruined our fucking friendship too. I get it if you don’t wanna talk to me anymore.” he tried to pull farther away but Richie started laughing yanking Eddie back into a tight hug.

“Eddie,” he said softly placing a gentle kiss to the top of his head, “I have feelings for you too...I always have, but I’m a useless fucking bisexual who didn’t even fucking realize I still did until we were dancing...you looked so beautiful all happy like that. I realized that I wanna make you that happy all the time, and that I was such a dick to you when we were kids because I was so fucking in love with you I didn’t know how to deal with it.”

“Wait, that note in my bookbag in third grade was you?”

“Yeah,” Richie nodded laughing and burying his face in Eddie’s hair, “I thought telling you to get out of my school would work”

Richie gently pushed Eddie away and cupped his face, tenderly looking into his eyes.

“I love you, Eddie.”

“I love you too, Richie”

“So do I still owe you that 300 hundred dollars, or…?”

Both of them started laughing and crying tears of happiness, all of the emotions pouring out making them practically sob and cling to each other. Richie tried to lean down and kiss him but their shakey bodies made it impossible. 

After about an hour they both ran out of tears and just laid in the bed cuddling close to each other in comfortable silence.

“Hey, Eds?” Richie whispered rubbing Eddie’s shoulder.

“Yeah?” he replied putting his hand on top of Richie’s before looking up at him.

“Will you be my valentine/boyfriend?” 

Eddie smiled widely, “Of course, dumbass,” he laughed sitting up and yanking Richie into a deep kiss.

Richie gently pulled away after a few seconds, “wow…” he let out a happy sigh, “you’re almost better than your mom”.

“Beep Beep, Richie” he chuckled yanking him back in for another, longer kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> It was so fun participating in this exchange and I hope that my recipient and everyone else liked this fic!!!


End file.
